emanresu tnuocca posted:

In a world where dragons and magic are real, can a person really be diagnosed with a mental illness if he gets convinces he's the subject of some old prophecy?

That's kinda how the whole 'gritty fantasy genre' has its cake and eats it too, imo. Like yeah, rhaegar did a crazy thing but also it's completely rational, but is it??? oh we don't know this is gritty fantasy!

nine-gear crow posted:

I'll always be amused by how edgy the Dante's Inferno game is as depicted by the fact that the red fabric cross on Dante's torso is sewn directly onto Dante's massive Rob Leifeld chest muscles.

BananaNutkins posted:

Brandon is cool but he has a total disregard for prose. I like the story being told for the most part, and the fantasy world and magic stuff is consistently engaging. His characters in Stormlight are mostly stock PoV, and when he tries something different (Shallan, Venli) they can be annoying. But I can't imagine being an audiobook narrator being confronted with something like this passage: (spoilers for Rhythm of War)Kaladin hesitated, spear held toward Moash’s throat. He could end the man. Should end the man. Why did he hesitate?
Moash … had been his friend. They’d spent hours by the fire, talking about their lives. Kaladin had opened his heart to this man, in ways he hadn’t to most of the others. He’d told Moash, like Teft and Rock, of Tien. Of Roshone. Of his fears.
Moash wasn’t just a friend though. He was beyond that a member of Bridge Four. Kaladin had sworn to the storms and the heavens above—if anyone was there watching—that he’d protect those men.
Kaladin had failed Moash. As soundly as he’d failed Dunny, Mart, and Jaks. And of them all, losing Moash hurt the most. Because in those callous eyes, Kaladin saw himself.

Also, every chapter begins identically. Open any chapter of any Sanderson book and 80% of the time the format of the first sentence is "PoV character strode/walked/ran toward/away from something." The other 20% of the time it's "PoV character verbed something, thinking about something.

In text form I can skim, but it's unlistenable in audio. This isnt even Goodkind-level prose.

nine-gear crow posted:

Is it still that dude's bare rear end on a block of ice?

e: I misremembered it, it's her bare icy rear end.

Bobby Digital posted:

Why’d they make him look like Bill Paxton

nine-gear crow posted:

I've read so many webcomics that just randomly stopped updating for seemingly no reason. I've been GRRM'd so many times already that when GRRM did it I felt nothing.

Punkin Spunkin posted:

still in my Men Writing Women hall of fame



the BOTH KINDS OF SWORDS rant is honestly imho, worse than "bad pussy"

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

I still think the funniest possibility is that it finally does come out but it’s just full of more long meandering POV chapters of characters who were introduced in one of the last two books just traveling places and

TERFherder posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKhGqWcJGY

Evil Fluffy posted:

Clearly the way you cure a skin disease is to cut off a person's skin!

mind the walrus posted:

Swerving from an arc to "shake things up" or "provoke an audience reaction" is something arrogant adolescents do because they lack the maturity or substance to do anything else. The Sopranos finale didn't set out to be a swerve, and it really isn't because everything about it is well-established and foreshadowed by the themes of the series and season it's a part of, but because it had the intelligence to end an anti-hero story in an appropriately anti-hero way it suddenly becomes "subverting expectations." The Red Wedding as well. It's really not a twist as much as an outgrowth of the themes that shakes up the cast list and primary conflicts. It's barely even a curveball, just throwing down the gauntlet to posture and say "in this story we're not afraid to shake things up" (even though yeah immediately after GRRM becomes terrified to shake things up).

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

It’s been so long since the last book that obsessed ultra fans have studied GRRM’s already published works like they’re studying the Bible and looking for deep meaning in every passage when we know for a fact that there are details in A Game of Thrones that were parts of plotlines and some foreshadowing for events that were outright abandoned going forward.

TERFherder posted:

ruddiger posted:

Do they ever show lil Carmine’s kids? People call him a moron but he’s one of the few who sees the patterns and willingly walks away from it to protect his actual family while both of Tony’s kids are doomed to repeat his mistakes.

KellHound posted:

It gets forgotten a lot because it's not the "cool" "edgy" part. Everyone remembers Rorschach narration where he talks about the decay of the city, but don't remember him (out of costume) telling the newpaper guy that the world is definitely going to end TODAY. Followed by newpaper guy assuring him, he will have Rorschach's niche right wing newpaper (which I think only Rorchach and the guys that print it read. I'd have to double check that) ready and waiting for him tomorrow. His therapist is genuinely trying to help him. The comic frequently proves Rorschach wrong when you start looking at not the superheroes. And Ozymandias' big plan is only "needed" because of tension between governments.

I would compare a lot of those moments to ASOIAF's small folk being screwed over repeatedly by the noble's trying to gain power. Or the North's loyalty to Ned's memory.

Both aren't as nihilistic as they seem but the adaptions they got decided well that's not cool, lets double down on nihilism, corruption, and bleakness.

Edit: To bring it back to ASOIAF, the books aren't as nihilistic as people assume, is why I kinda think Doran isn't a super chessmaster mind. He has just realized he needs to let his personal revenge and feelings over rippen like the blood oranges in order to protect the kids in the water garden. The missions he gave his kids are busywork so it looks to the rest of Dorne that is has revenge plans. This prevents the masses from rebelling for a desire to get revenge. And it keeps Arianne too bust to start a war that gets all the civilians killed. I don't think his plan will work, but I think that is his intent.

mind the walrus posted:

Uh, you know Watchmen is just "Watchmen" and was a comic book first? Snyder was famously derided for his overtly literal translation that showcased in weirdly plain language that he either disagreed with or only superficially understood the thematic intent-- the fights are "cool" rather than empowering, Rorschach is unambiguously framed as hot poo poo, etc.

Snyder honestly does get a bit too much poo poo because while I think most of his movies are dogshit, he does consistently push himself out of his comfort zone to try and tackle weightier issues... but that doesn't mean he's remotely competent at it. He's not competent. He's a stupendous technician who is the absolute best of the best at directing second units in another dimension, but unambiguously sucks chode at doing something as elementary as portraying the Superfriends in a compelling way. (Sidenote: that is not me complaining about his stylistic choices, but the execution of them on anything more than a visceral level)

Anyway more on-topic I'm still very surprised at how great Diana Rigg was as Lady Tyrell. That show burnt out such a great cast.

mind the walrus posted:

I mean it was designed to be a throwback to Xena/Hercules-style monster of the week starring Himbo Supreme Cavill for jerkoff material.

mind the walrus posted:

Thankfully that Amazon production already looks like a truly massive financial sinkhole that even if it's a roaring success they probably won't want to expand it out.

We're deconstructing the idea of a thread needing to have a consistent topic when the sack of poo poo author refuses to provide more content.

Also lmao did the trailer for the new GRRM thing come out? I didn't even see it posted here. No one cares at all huh?

pseudanonymous posted:

We're not allowed to make fun of people for having different opinions on the somethingawful.com forum now? That's incorrect posting, in this thread, according to you?

Do you see, possibly, maybe, a smidge of hypocrisy there?

Phenotype posted:

Aw, don't be that way. It's just that most everything has been discussed to death and the only thing that still seems fun is busting on gurm and his terrible hat and his horrible work ethic and his pathetic excuses and poo poo now im doing it myself

Phenotype posted:

and sometimes it takes being raised in the gutter to end up becoming the ultimate fighter, the fooking legend

bobjr posted:

House of the Dragon relies on a lot of big cinematic battles too right? I wonder how those would look considering we got about 1 a season with GoT

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

How has Preston not put out an emergency video yet because that’s what I need.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

It’s such a great point that HBO will not be able to help themselves with this show just like with Disney and the Mandalorian. Mandalorian season 1 was a pretty low key self contained story. Then in Season 2 it immediately became Star Wars: The TV Show with all your favorite characters showing up. The same will happen with Snow.

mind the walrus posted:

I've never had the patience to sit through one of his videos but I already like this dude more than most people.

Gambrinus posted:

Is there a transcription of these anywhere? I don't really use Youtube for stuff like this and would much prefer to read something.

A Fucker posted:

I have done a lot of interviews over the years, more than even I can possibly keep track of. Inevitably, a lot of them touch on the same subjects. One of the things I have been asked about most is my writing process. If you have seen any of those interviews, you have probably heard me talking about the two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. I have given that same spiel numerous times. Here’s one of the most thorough explanations:



Another question that I get a lot, especially since the end of GAME OF THRONES on HBO, is whether A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, will end the same way. An architect would be able to give a short, concise, simple answer to that, but I am much more of a gardener. My stories grow and evolve and change as I write them. I generally know where I am going, sure… the final destinations, the big set pieces, they have been my head for years… for decades, in the case of A SONG OF ICE & FIRE. There are lots of devils in the details, though, and sometimes the ground changes under my feet as the words pour forth.

(Another question fans and interviewers alike ask a lot if “Where do you get your ideas?” Honestly, I wish I knew. When confronted with the same question, Harlan Ellison used to say, “Schenectady.” The ancient Greeks spoke of the muses. Freud talked of the conscious and subconscious minds, the id, the ego, the superego. More recently, we hear about the right brain and the left brain, one analytic and rational, the other imaginative and creative. I am pretty sure the answer is not Schenectady, but aside from that… hell, I don’t know. Yes, there are some instances where I know the seed from which something in my garden sprang. The Wall sprang from my visit to Hadrian’s Wall in 1981. The Wars of the Roses inspired much of GAME OF THRONES. The Red Wedding was a mash up of the Glencoe Massacre and the Black Dinner from Scottish history, turned up way past eleven. But for every instance like that, there are a hundred for which I have to say, “I don’t know. One day the thought just came to me. It wasn’t there, and then it was.” If that was the work of a muse, may she keep on musing).

Which brings me to THE WINDS OF WINTER.

Most of you know by now that I do not like to give detailed updates on WINDS. I am working on it, I have been working on it, I will continue to work on it. (Yes, I work on other things as well). I love nothing more than to surprise my readers with twists and turns they did not see coming, and I risk losing those moments if I go into too much detail. Spoilers, you know. Even saying that I am working on a Tyrion chapter, as I did last week, gives away the fact that Tyrion is not dead. Reading sample chapters at cons, or posting them on line, which I did for years, gives away even more. I actually quite enjoyed doing that, until the day came that I realized I had read and/or posted the first couple of hundred pages of WINDS, or thereabouts. If I had kept on with the readings, half the book might be out by now.

So I am not going to give you all any kind of detailed report on the book, but…

I will say this.

I have been at work in my winter garden. Things are growing… and changing, as does happen with us gardeners. Things twist, things change, new ideas come to me (thank you, muse), old ideas prove unworkable, I write, I rewrite, I restructure, I rip everything apart and rewrite again, I go through doors that lead nowhere, and doors that open on marvels.

Sounds mad, I know. But it’s how I write. Always has been. Always will be. For good or ill.

What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series. Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in GAME OF THRONES you will also see in THE WINDS OF WINTER (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different.

And really, when you think about it, this was inevitable. The novels are much bigger and much much more complex than the series. Certain things that happened on HBO will not happen in the books. And vice versa. I have viewpoint characters in the books never seen on the show: Victarion Greyjoy, Arianne Martell, Areo Hotah, Jon Connington, Aeron Damphair They will all have chapters, and the things they do and say will impact the story and the major characters who were on the show. I have legions of secondary characters, not POVs but nonetheless important to the plot, who also figure in the story: Lady Stoneheart, Young Griff, the Tattered Prince, Penny, Brown Ben Plumm, the Shavepate, Marwyn the Mage, Darkstar, Jeyne Westerling. Some characters you saw in the show are quite different than the versions in the novels. Yarra Greyjoy is not Asha Greyjoy, and HBO’s Euron Greyjoy is way, way, way, way different from mine. Quaithe still has a part to play. So does Rickon Stark. And poor Jeyne Poole. And… well, the list is long. (And all this is part of why WINDS is taking so long. This is hard, guys).

Oh, and there will be new characters as well. No new viewpoints, I promise you that, but with all these journeys and battles and scheming to come, inevitably our major players will be encountering new people in lands far and near.

One thing I can say, in general enough terms that I will not be spoiling anything: not all of the characters who survived until the end of GAME OF THRONES will survive until the end of A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, and not all of the characters who died on GAME OF THRONES will die in A SONG OF ICE & FIRE. (Some will, sure. Of course. Maybe most. But definitely not all) ((Of course, I could change my mind again next week, with the next chapter I write. That’s gardening)).

And the ending? You will need to wait until I get there. Some things will be the same. A lot will not.

No doubt, once I am done, there will be huge debate about which version of the story is better. Some people will like my book, others will prefer the television show. And that’s fine, you pays your money and your make your choice. (I do fear that a certain proportion of fans are so angry about how long WINDS has taken me that they are prepared to hate the book, unread. That saddens me, but there nothing I can do about it, but write the best book that I can, and hope that when it comes out most fans will read it with clean hands and an open mind).

That’s all I can tell you right now. I need to get back to the garden. Tyrion is waiting for me.